Night To Remember
by Lynnlee22
Summary: Some things you just can't run away from. Featuring: Dinah and Hart (Guiding Light) Kelly and Joey (One Life to Live)


Gwen Vint sighed as she smoothed the tape down over the corner of the cardboard box. She struggled to lift it, placing it on top of the stack of larger boxes that sat in the corner—waiting. As she looked around at the room, it was hard to believe how full it had once been. This was the room where they had spent most of their time. This was the room where she and Peter had spent many nights watching movies and talking, long before Ashlyn was born. This was the room Ashlyn rushed into every Christmas, her eyes wide with anticipation, her mind spinning with thoughts of what Santa had brought. This was the room she'd been in when she got the call from the doctor's office….both of them.

The first had been nearly eight years ago. She'd gone in for blood work, convinced the anemia that had plagued her for most of her adult life was back and instead found out that she and Peter were expecting. The second call was two years ago—almost two the day. Not much was said on the phone. She knew what that meant, and after that day, nothing else was the same.

"I'm sorry," she said, her hands trembling as she reached up to wipe the tears from her face. She turned her back to him as he moved to embrace her.

"Kel," Joey said, softly, placing his hands on her shoulders. "You don't have anything to be sorry for. "

She turned, her face stained with tears. "I just hate disappointing you over and over again. I know how much you want this. I know how much you want a family." She held up her hand as he opened his mouth and started to protest. "Don't even bother saying that it's not important because I know that it is."

"Not as important as this," he insisted, taking her hands in his and bringing them to his lips. He placed gentle kisses across her fingers. "You are the most important thing in the world to me….all the rest…it's a distant second."

Kelly sighed, her eyes falling over to the box in the trash can. Another negative pregnancy test could now be added to the collection. "I just wish I knew what was wrong," she sighed.

"You heard the doctor." Joey ran his fingers through her hair as he looked at her. He hated seeing her do this to herself every month. Yes, he wanted a family, but not at the expense of Kelly's happiness, and certainly not at the expense of his marriage. "They couldn't find any physical reason we can't have a baby."

"I know," she groaned, leaning her head back as she leaned against the bathroom counter. "What the hell good does that do us?"

Leaning in, he kissed her lips, smiling slightly. "You could look at it as good news, you know."

She closed her eyes, sighing again. "I know," she opened her eyes, smiling a little, if for no other reason than to pacify him, "I'm sorry. It is good news. It is….I just wish…If it were something physical…they could fix it. Now…I mean…this way…."

"This way..it means we just need some time…some uninterrupted, stress-free time alone." He reached into his back pocket, pulling out a brochure. "I have just the place," he smiled.

"Ok," Hart smiled, as he loudly recounted, "I've got the luggage, and the map, and the snacks. The car is filled with gas. It just seems like I'm forgetting something."

"You forgot me," Lilly yelled out, running up behind him and tapping him just above the knees. "I get to go too."

Hart leaned down with a smile, scooping her up as Dinah smiled in the passenger seat. "Of course you do." He leaned in, kissing her quickly on the cheek as he strapped her into the car seat. "You are the best backseat driver a guy could have and you have to help me make sure Mommy doesn't put all that yucky music on the radio."

"If Barry Manilow sings one note while I'm in this car, someone will be hurt," Dinah muttered from her seat. She glanced back at Lily. "Only happy songs, right Lil?"

"Right!" Lily smiled.

Hart climbed into the driver's seat, grasping Dinah's hand and squeezing it tightly for a moment. It was about time they had a happy trip. After the year they'd had, it was about time something…anything…went right for them. It had started off innocently enough, he thought. The guy seemed to be was young, able bodied, and looking for work—any kind of work even the kind of work you did on a farm. That kind of work ethic wasn't easy to find. When he'd hired Jake Skinner, he thought he thought of it as paying it forward. He was giving the guy the second chance that some people in town had given him.

Thinking back, he wished he'd never laid eyes on the guy. As he glanced over at his wife, he could still see the scar on the side of her neck. Scratch that, he thought, Jake Skinner better be the one wishing.


End file.
